


Exploding Head Antidote

by McGinnisINC



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 07:56:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10962969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McGinnisINC/pseuds/McGinnisINC
Summary: “Ew.” Meg shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Should I be creeped out or flattered that Captain Cold tried to look me up?”“Both,” Lisa winked.While the Flash is trying to stop Lewis Snart, Meg is trying to keep Lisa's head on her shoulders.





	Exploding Head Antidote

Meg was coming home from her afternoon run, dripping sweat and panting, when her phone rang. Martin’s face appeared on the screen, bearing a neutral expression. Slicking her wet fringe back, she sighed. “What’s up, Martin?” 

He adjusted his glasses. “The Flash called me, looking for you.”

“Am I being summoned to STAR labs again?”

“He did request your presence.” 

Meg glanced down at her sweat pants and baggy t-shirt. “Think I can shower first?”

Martin gave her the fatherly smile she’d grown accustom to seeing since he first brought her back from the brink of destruction. “I imagine you have enough time to shower. But I would make haste back to the States. He made it seem like it was a time-sensitive situation.” 

“Any other details?” Meg asked, kicking off her gym shoes. 

“No. I apologize for not pressing for more information.”

“No big deal, Martin.” Meg yanked her hair from her ponytail. “The Flash is just lucky I’m not in Syria anymore. That would have been quite the challenge trying to get back to Central City.”

“Where exactly in West Africa are you, presently?” 

Meg smiled. She hadn’t told Martin she was leaving Syria, but she had told his wife, Clarissa. It warmed her heart that they had obviously been talking about her. Her own parents were out of her life, for their own safety. Martin and Clarissa were the only two people in the world who actually cared about her – maybe aside from Caitlin Snow. But Caitlin didn’t check in like the Steins did. Wow, she was getting homesick for Central City.

“Mali,” she answered. “But I was thinking of heading back to North America. Maybe Mexico? Obviously after making a pit-stop in your neck of the woods for whatever the Flash needs.”

“She’s in Mali,” Martin said to someone off-camera. 

“Which airport?” The other person replied. 

Meg sighed. She knew that voice. “Clarissa, I can buy my own plane ticket!”

“Indulge an old childless couple, Meg!” Came the reply. Martin swung around so Meg could see Clarissa in the background on the couple’s desktop. “Which airport?”

Giving an even deeper sigh, but being unable to fight the smile on her face, Meg gave them the information. Within two hours, she was showered, the few possessions she owned in her little apartment were packed up in her carry-on, and she was on a plane bound for Central City.

\--

“I’m not working with a Snart again,” Meg snapped, crossing her arms.

The Flash’s head yanked back with super-speed. 

When the Flash had first met Meg, she was suffering from a traumatic brain injury the likes of which left her quiet, if not, meek. The only people she even bothered to talk to were Caitlin and Martin. At first the shyness was a result of her own inability to properly communicate and her own inability to decipher reality from her nightmares. Eventually, the meekness continued because she was too scared to let her emotions get out of control. People tended to die in very bloody ways when she was angry. Meg got some very intensive therapy and, at Oliver Queen’s suggestion, left the country to learn some zen from some pretty badass monks. 

Now, she wasn’t so meek and apparently the Flash hadn’t gotten the memo. “Please? She needs help.”

With a huge roll of her eyes, Meg asked, “And what happens when she betrays you again?” 

“I can’t control what she does,” the Flash said. “I can only control what I do and I can’t not help her.”

Meg chewed at her bottom lip, still unsure. At some level she was ticked that she hopped a plane so quickly for the youngest Snart. At another level, she knew what the Flash was saying was true. With a deep, deep sigh, Meg mumbled, “Fine, but you owe me, Barry.”

Suddenly the Flash came to a stop. It was enough to make her dizzy – watching him vibrate in front of her and then suddenly stand still. “How did you know?” he asked.

With a pitying look, Meg explained, “Barry Allen and the Flash are never in the same room together. And you’re the same height.” 

Barry glanced up as if double-checking his height. “So Dr. Stein didn’t tell you?”

“Give Martin some credit, Barry,” Meg scoffed. And then she brushed past him and headed to the elevator. When she had arrived, the Flash had instructed her to go to the lower level of the lab. Meg presumed that Snart, the younger, was upstairs. Meg and Barry rode the elevator in silence. Once it dinged and opened wide, Barry began vibrating again, once again hiding his identity. 

Meg stepped off the elevator after him, noting Cisco and Caitlin conferring off to the side. Lisa Snart sat in the middle of the lab, staring absently at a mug shot on the screen. The man scowling back gave Meg the chills. Forcing her gaze away, she approached the two scientists with a small smile. Caitlin and Cisco were the two biggest sweethearts ever. 

\--

“Lisa Snart,” Meg greeted, as she approached the other woman.

“Meg… I never bothered to learn your last name,” Lisa shot back. Despite her paleness and general jitteriness, Lisa still had a silver tongue and knew how to use it. 

“Harkness,” Meg provided. “Seeing as I’m probably going to save your life today, you should know my name.”

Lisa hid a smile. “Make good on your word, and I’ll be sure to remember your name.”

“Well, if I don’t make good on my word, I hardly see why it would matter,” Meg shot back. 

“Hey!” Cisco squawked from across the room. 

“It’s okay, Cisco,” Lisa gave a small chuckle. “I could use a laugh.”

“I have jokes a-plenty,” Meg guaranteed as she pulled a chair over to Lisa. 

“Yeah, that outfit is a joke onto itself,” Lisa chimed. 

Meg glanced down at her navy blue sweatshirt and faded denim jeans. “They told me you had a bomb in your head,” she shrugged. “If it went off, I wanted something disposable.”

“Seriously, Meg!” Cisco interjected again. “That’s not funny.”

But when Meg glanced back at Lisa, she had already dipped her head to hide another smile. Meg was no stranger to morbidity and thrived when she could joke about the screwed up shit she dealt with, daily. She was glad Lisa appreciated the humor. 

“Fine, fine!” Meg held her hands up in surrender. “In all seriousness, I am here to make sure your brains don’t end up on this ratty sweatshirt. I’m your exploding head antidote, so to speak. Let me explain my powers.”

“You heal ouchies,” Lisa provided. 

“You remember that but not my last name?”

“I also remember the way my brother looked at you.” Lisa looked Meg up and down. “And that he tried to look you up after we got home. Every database on this Earth… no Meg Harkness existed until a few months after the particle accelerator exploded. That’s why I didn’t bother learning your name – it’s obviously fake.”

“Ew.” Meg shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Should I be creeped out or flattered that Captain Cold tried to look me up?”

“Both,” Lisa winked. 

“Can we get back on topic?” Caitlin asked, approaching the pair.

“Yes,” Meg grasped at that. “Topic. Let’s stay there. My powers.” She took a deep breath and tried to speak in sentences longer than three words. “So, my powers deal with tissue and the manipulation of tissue. Well, organic matter but it’s most relevant to human tissue. I can rip it apart; I can put it back together. I can also keep it together when something tries to rip it apart. In your case, I’m here to try to keep your tissue together if the bomb does go off. But that’s worst-case scenario. The goal is for Cisco and Caitlin to find a solution to getting the bomb removed, safely.”

“You have much experience with… keeping tissue together?” Lisa raised an eyebrow at the phrasing. 

Meg looked away and scratched at her chin. “I can keep human skin together when someone tries to cut it apart with a knife. I can keep pig skin together when someone tries to shoot it with a gun.” Mentally, she thanked Oliver Queen and his Arrow gang for helping her test those powers. 

“And human tissue when someone’s psycho father tries to blow it up with a bomb?” Lisa lifted her eyebrows, hopefully.

“Remains to be seen,” Meg admitted. “But like I said – I’m the back up plan. We shouldn’t get to that point. If we do, I’m the best bet to keep you alive.” With that, Meg placed her hands out, palms up and waiting. Lisa looked between the hands and Meg’s face. “I have to channel my power through you, completely and consistently.”

Lisa still hesitated, glanced at Cisco’s reassuring face, and then grabbed Meg’s hands. 

“It’s going to feel warm,” Meg warned. “Like a low grade fever.” And then Meg took a deep breath and began focusing her energy. She knew the exact moment her eyes began glowing, because Lisa blinked and her grip tightened on Meg’s hands. 

Meg imagined a white glow spreading from her inner core, outwards, outwards until it met Lisa’s hands and then she imagined it sliding into Lisa’s palms, continuing into every nerve, every atom until the white glow was everywhere in Lisa. No matter how many times Meg did this, she was still startled by how intimate it was. She felt like… a goddess. In complete control of an entire human. At her whim, she could twist Lisa’s arm off. Or rip every atom apart and leave the poor woman a bloodstain on the floor. The urge always came from nowhere and Meg actively pushed it down and focused on her goal: keep Lisa safe and whole. Gulping, Meg centered herself.

“You okay?” Meg asked, softly. 

“Golden,” Lisa shot back, instantly. 

It took Meg a moment. It really did. Meg personally blamed it on the fact that she was trying so, so hard to concentrate on maintaining the link. Meg flashed Lisa a distant smile and then settled in for some length meditation. 

“So… how long do we stay like this?” Lisa asked, noting Meg’s suddenly vacant expression.

“Until the bomb is out or it goes off,” Cisco provided. “Meg needs to concentrate but allegedly she has some wicked monk zen going on… she’ll just chill there. You’re stuck there, too. But feel free to, uh, not concentrate. If you want.”

Lisa looked between the two of them, one eyebrow up. When Meg made no movement, just sat there like a statue, Cisco shrugged deeply.

\--

Ultimately, Meg’s powers weren’t needed. Cisco got the bomb out and Flash saved the day. Lisa almost let out a breath of relief and then… “Snart killed Lewis,” came over the intercom.

Meg was casually stretching her sore muscles, but paused and looked at Lisa. Her expression was neutral. Meg had reached so deeply inside this woman and an instant later, she was so detached. Without another word, Lisa grabbed her leather jacket, blew a kiss at Cisco, and hopped on the elevator. Meg watched her until the doors were closed and then returned to stretching.

“Shit…” Cisco muttered into the silence.

“Yeah…” Caitlin responded. 

Then Cisco leaned over the intercom and asked, “Did you apprehend Snart?”

“Yeah, I got him,” Barry responded. But he certainly didn’t sound happy about it. 

“At least he can’t stalk me anymore,” Meg joked. Neither Caitlin nor Cisco seemed to find it funny. Meg didn’t either. 

\--

Lisa adjusted her blonde wig as she sat, waiting for her brother. When he finally plopped in front of her, the siblings nodded to each other. If Lisa had had a plan to bust him out, maybe she’d have smirked. If this was like one of Len’s former prison visits, when he was doing a short amount of time and he’d be out soon on good behavior, maybe she’d have smiled. But the two of them had been through some shit and Len was looking at life in prison. 

She picked up the phone and waited for Len to do the same. “Hey Lenny,” she said, softly.

“Hey,” Len replied. The lack of an affectionate insult spoke volumes. 

“I hung out with the STAR labs geeks for way too long yesterday,” Lisa commented, trying to make conversation. 

Len shifted in his seat. “And how was that?”

“The Flash is totally Barry Allen, isn’t he?” 

“Why do you say that?” Len shot back a little too slowly. Lisa allowed a smile to grace her face, finally. 

“They are never in the same room together and they’re the same height,” Lisa shrugged.

Len stroked his forehead right above his eyebrow. “Perceptive…” he drawled. 

“Oh,” Lisa reached up and twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “Your girlfriend was there.”

Len sat up straighter. “What for?”

Lisa’s smile turned into a devilish smirk and very suddenly Len realized the trap she’d set. Sure, Len had tried to look her up after they clashed. Sure, he’d been curious about the metahuman in mom-jeans. And sure, he’d thought she was adorable standing over the Flash like a mother hen, staring down the barrel of his cold gun, and threatening him with a bloody death. But he wouldn’t say he was… obsessed with her. Maybe curious. And now he was kicking himself. It was unusual for him to get trapped. But it had been a jarring couple of days. Instead, he rolled his eyes. “Why was she there?”

“Apparently to keep my head from exploding off my shoulders,” Lisa shrugged. Suddenly, she sobered up. “I’m sorry this happened. I’m working on a way to get you out.” 

“Lisa, I’m the one who should be sorry,” Len tightened his grip on the phone. 

“Lenny, what are we going to do?”

Len looked at his baby sister and for the first time in a long time… he didn’t know.


End file.
